Miss Gonsowskis Grade Science Class!

th 4

The Solar System

The Solar System is made up of all the planets that orbit our sun. Orbit means to circle or revolve around the sun. There are other things that are in our solar system other than the sun and planets, there are moons, comets, asteroid, minor planets, dust, and gas. Our Solar System has an order: the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and other which is things like comets.

The Earth
The Earth is unlike any other planet in the Solar System for many different reasons 1. It is the only planet that has an atmosphere containing 21 percent oxygen. 2. It is the only planet that has liquid water on its surface. 3. It is the only planet in the Solar System that has life. 4. It takes the Earth 365 days to orbit the sun.

Rotation Of The Earth

As the Earth orbits the sun it is also rotating. This is how we measure how long a day is. It takes approximately 24 hours for the Earth to rotate in a complete circle.
During this rotation the side of the Earth that is towards the sun has daytime and the side that is turned away from the sun has night time.

The Sun
Typically the center of the solar system. The sun is a typical star that is the source of light and heat for planets in the solar system. The sun contains 99.85% of the mass in the solar system. The sun is over 300,000 times larger than Earth.

It takes approximately 8 minutes for the suns light to reach the face of the Earth.
Approximately 24,480,032 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Stars
A star is a self-luminous object that shines through the release of energy produced by nuclear reactions at its core.

The Sun is a star!

The Moon
The Moon is Earths natural satellite. Men first stepped on the Moon in 1969. The Moon is the second brightest object in the sky. There are two different types of terrain on the Moon. Heavily cratered, older, also known as highlands Relatively smooth, younger, also known as maria Maria are the large dark spots you see when you look at the Moon.

The Rotation Of The Moon

The Moon revolves and rotates around the Solar System. Rotation: when the Moon turns all the way around or spins on its axis one time.

Revolution: when the Moon makes a full circle around the Earths orbit.
The Moon rotates and revolves once every 27 days.

Moon Diaries
We are starting a new project!
This is going to be something called a Moon Diary. You are going to be getting a packet that you are going to be filling out throughout this month. Everyday there is a blank square where you are going to draw how you see the moon and then under it on the blank lines I would like you to describe what you see.

The Moon changes phases on a regular cycle. The Moon goes through 4 main stages
1. 2. 3. 4. First Quarter (week 1) Full Moon (week 2) Third Quarter (week 3) New Moon (week 4)

Sources
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm http://www.planetsforkids.org/planet-earth.html

http://dictionary.kids.net.au/word/sun
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/space/sun.html http://kids.nineplanets.org/moon.htm http://utahscience.oremjr.alpine.k12.ut.us/sciber06/6th/mo on/html/rotate.htm